Russia jails abducted Ukrainians from occupied Melitopol for alleged terror plot
A court in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, sentenced five kidnapped residents of occupied Melitopol to 11 to 14 years in prison for allegedly forming a “terrorist underground,” Russian outlet Mediazona reported.
The convicted include a Ukrainian Armed Forces contract soldier, a combat veteran, and three territorial defense reservists: Ihor Horlov, 37, sentenced to 14 years; Andriy Holubiev, 46, to 12 years; Volodymyr Zuyev, 44, to 11 years; Oleksandr Zhukov, 56, to 12 years; and Yuriy Petrov, 64, to 14 years. They will serve the first five and a half years in prison, followed by time in a strict-regime colony.
Russian investigators claimed the men organized a “terrorist underground” in Melitopol and planned to detonate an explosive-laden car near a humanitarian aid distribution point.
In court, the defendants recounted being abducted by Russian forces in early April 2022 and held in makeshift Melitopol prisons, where they were kept in handcuffs, blindfolded with bags over their heads, beaten, and tortured with electric shocks. One Ukrainian attempted suicide after Russians threatened to torture his family.
The men were later transferred to occupied Crimea, where their detentions were formalized, and then held in Moscow’s Lefortovo pre-trial detention center.
Initial interrogation statements, used as evidence, were obtained under torture and should not be considered valid, the defense argued.
The defendants denied planning attacks on civilians, and at least two requested recognition as prisoners of war, BBC reported.
Mediazona noted that during their detention, two of the men lost their parents, and the two-year-old daughter of one died due to inadequate medical care in occupied Melitopol.
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